Hot New Restaurant: Under-the-Radar Dining Across the Street From Staples Center

Downtown L.A.'s Stafford + Mathis Kitchen serves up a Jekyll & Hyde menu of the simple and sophisticated –- along with a front-row patio view of L.A. Live.

The Quick Pitch: A spiffed-up former Holiday Inn (now called the Luxe City Center) makes the leap for culinary respectability too with a quietly assured menu of upmarket comfort courses (caramelized onion soup, fried chicken and waffles) and on-trend offerings (pork cheek ravioli with lardon, an heirloom salad studded with octopus). Take advantage of the second-floor patio for sweeping views of L.A. Live and Staples Center directly across Figueroa Boulevard.

The Insider’s Dish: Chef Michael Chavez-Martinez, who arrived after a stint at offal-oriented Little Tokyo cult haunt b.o.s., recently served as a production chef on the second season of ABC’s The Taste, ghost-cooking dishes on-set for judges like Anthony Bourdain and Nigella Lawson.